Marine accident investigators from Japan and South Korea have agreed to cooperate to reduce the number of sea disasters near the two countries.
In a meeting Wednesday at the Moji Marine Accidents Inquiry Commissioner's Office in Kitakyushu, participants discussed conducting joint probes into accidents and establishing a more efficient communications network.
They noted that accidents involving South Korean ships accounted for seven of the 14 sea disasters that occurred in the Kanmon Straight dividing Kyushu and Honshu last year.
According to the Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency, 154 accidents occurred in and near the Sea of Japan last year.
Incidents requiring international cooperation have also taken place in the area, including a large spill of fuel oil from the Russian tanker Nakhodka, which broke up and sank off Shimane Prefecture in January 1997, and collisions between Japanese fishing ships and large foreign tankers.
Wednesday's meeting was part of a series of bilateral exchanges on the issue that kicked off Monday in Tokyo, according to officials of the commissioner's office.
Representatives in the discussions included Minoru Ito, chief commissioner of the office, and Park Young Sun, chief inspector of the Central Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency in South Korea.
Heads of the two countries' marine accidents inquiry authorities are expected to exchange notes in a meeting in February as a confirmation of the agreements made in this round of talks, officials said.